The three major brothels on Luoshi Street are Miaoyinfang, Yangliuxin and Hongxiuzhao. Compared with the former two, Hongxiuzhao, which has been established for only a few years, is a latecomer. The limelight of the move seems to be getting more and more prosperous, and gradually there is a tendency for the back waves of the Yangtze River to push the front waves.
That's because the music of Miaoyinfang and the dance of Yangliuxin always require the guests to have a little taste of the past, and the secret weapon of attracting customers - beauty, is to kill in all directions.
There may be men in this world who don't like music and dancing, but there is absolutely no man who doesn't like beautiful women.
The girls with red sleeves have always been known for their beauty. You can grab one at the door, even if she can't sing, can't dance, can't recite poetry, can't draw, can't speak eloquently and laugh, and can't explain words intelligently, but at the very least, She must be beautiful.
Beautiful, gentle, and not putting on airs, this is the characteristic of the girls in the red sleeves. If you ate the door of Miss Gong Yu at Miaoyinfang, or if Yang Liuxin couldn’t get in line to become the lucky one who received only one girl a day, you can come to Hongxiu to seek solace.
The girls here don't have any weird temperaments and never push a guest out the door if you can afford it.
A beautiful girl is of course expensive, and the more beautiful a girl is, the more expensive it is. However, in this Jinling City, the most important thing is to take a lot of money and take it seriously.
Qin Banruo, the mysterious, beautiful, and highly trusted Qin Banruo in Prince Yu's Mansion, is the boss of this red-sleeved trick. But she herself is not a singing prostitute, nor is she a musician, she is really just a boss.
Although she also has the beauty that can turn all living beings upside down, Qin Banruo has never publicly shown her face in the red sleeve trick, and there will be no more than three people in the capital who know that she is the real owner of this brothel.
In addition to the rolling wealth, another huge income that Hongxiu Zhao brought to Qin Banruo was intelligence.
When people are laughing with money, their nerves are generally the most relaxed and their mouths are the most relaxed. With a little skill, you can detect many useful things.
The girls in the red sleeves have undergone special training to teach them how to coax their patrons to say more words and talk about various things, and then write down the general content of what they heard from memory and report it once a day.
Qin Banruo spent a lot of time on these unfiltered reports, reading hundreds of copies every day, and then picking out useful information from them, and then tracking them in a targeted manner.
However, this is not the only way Qin Banruo can obtain information. In addition to the people who are still in the wind and dust field, Qin Banruo will deliberately train some smart girls and find a way to marry them into the courtier's palace as concubines, in order to obtain more little-known information.
To King Yu, this slender and beautiful woman was as important as any counselor in his mansion. Of course, he also hoped that in the near future, this beautiful girl would be more than just his counselor. .
This time Qin Banruo found out that something was wrong, and it was from a routine report.
When one of the guests was teasing with the girl, he casually said: "I want to have fun when I come out to play. This girl will find another girl when she has no time, and she can't commit suicide by hanging on a tree. Look at that He Wenxin, who is jealous in the brothel, and he succeeds. What kind of majesty is she? No matter how good Miss Xinliu is, her life is not as important as his own life. He thought that he could escape by relying on my father, really... "
Qin Banruo, who was alert to this sentence, immediately sent someone to investigate the guest, and found that he was a long-suffering member of the imperial uncle Ji Wang's mansion. He had always been the most lecherous. , but was not there.
Qin Banruo didn't clear his suspicions, so he sent someone to tell him once, but a surprising thing happened.
Combining some of the information at hand, Qin Banruo realized the seriousness of the situation, so he immediately went to see King Yu.
"You said that Uncle Wen Yuan has an important witness in his hand, and he was just watching the attitude of the Ministry of Punishment before he could bear it?" After hearing a few words, King Yu frowned, "Why is he so calm? ?"
"Because Wen Yuanbo has lost his trust in the Ministry of Punishment." Qin Banruo said with great certainty, "According to the current case, there is no shortage of witnesses, as long as the Ministry of Punishment intends to deal with it fairly, there is no need to add this witness. The case is finalized, but if the Ministry of Justice wants to exonerate He Wenxin from the crime, it will be useless for him to present more witnesses, but will instead prepare the Ministry of Justice in vain."
King Yu nodded slowly, "I see, what you mean is that Wen Yuanbo is waiting for the punishment department to close the case, and if he is not satisfied with the result of the verdict, he will directly bring this witness to the emperor to complain about injustice. ?"
"Yes."
"Will the emperor believe it?" Yu Wang sneered, "Wen Yuanbo is too hot-headed and thinks things too simply, why are you nervous. The Ministry of Punishment will definitely handle the details when the case is closed. In front of the emperor, he said with red lips and white teeth, what can you do?"
Qin Banruo's eyes like autumn water twitched lightly: "others can't do it, this person can prove it."
King Yu couldn't help being stunned when he saw that she was speaking solemnly.
"I beg your pardon for the dereliction of duty. The scene was chaotic and there were many witnesses. I was negligent when I was ordered to investigate the case. I didn't notice that there was one person missing among all the witnesses that Jing Zhaoyin had passed down..." Qin Banruo pursed her lips. , a small dimple flashed on her cheeks, which made her a serious expression, revealing a hint of charm, "Later, a famous long history of Ji Wangfu said something in Hong Xiu Zhao that made me suspicious, so I checked again. After correcting it again, I found out that it was not Jingzhaoyin Gaosheng who missed the biography, but this person he couldn't detain at all..."
"Go ahead, who is this witness?"
"Lord Ji."
King Yu couldn't help being taken aback: "Uncle Ji Wang?"
"Yes, there were two other guests in the small building where the crime happened that day, one of them was Prince Ji. He should have been... witnessing the whole incident... "
"Oh, this is difficult to do!" Yu Wang's forehead was gloomy, "Although Ji Wang Shu ignores the affairs of the court and only loves the scenery, the red and green, but his temperament is extremely upright, as long as Wen Yuanbo asks him , he must be willing to tell the truth in front of the emperor..."
"That's right. Maybe it was because he felt that there were so many witnesses that he didn't need to come forward. Prince Ji took his wives and concubines to live in Hot Spring Bie Zhuang the next day after the case, so he didn't know the circumstances of the subsequent trial. If he understands, there will be no movement, which is why we have not been able to find that he is also one of the witnesses."
"Ah..." King Yu fell on the chair, twirling the bridge of his nose between his eyes with his fingers, his expression was very embarrassed, "Uncle Ji is not easy to deal with, and this king can't be ruthless with him for the sake of a vassal's son. If Wen Yuanbo really asks Uncle Ji to plead for his injustice before driving, the Ministry of Punishment will definitely not be able to please him. It seems... He Wenxin can't be saved..."
"That's what I think too. If you do something and don't do something, you can't lose the big because of the small." Qin Banruo didn't feel that it was such a painful giving up because he didn't like a playboy like He Wenxin. "Even if Lord He needs to use it again, it's something that his own son has caused. He can't let His Highness wipe out him at any cost, right? If he collapses because of the death of a son, he is not worthy of His Highness's high regard for him. "
King Yu glanced at her and sighed: "I understand what you mean, but He Jingzhong is quite useful, and this son seems to be his lifeblood, the only son, who is not like this? Of course? You are right, you can't protect it anymore, and you can't force it. This king told Qi Min to let him contact Prince Ji from the side first. If Uncle Wang's attitude is tough, there is no need to force it. The only way to survive is to give life for life.”
"My lord, Shengming." Qin Banruo smiled like a spring breeze.
King Yu stretched out his hand to support the beautiful woman's arm, and said softly: "I am fortunate to have you, and I rely on your eyes to detect many things. I discovered Xie Yu's true face a while ago, and today I stopped the punishment department's mistakes in time. Such a great contribution. , how can this king reward you?"
Qin Banruo lowered his eyebrows and lowered his head, took a step back slightly, and lightly broke his jade arm from King Yu's hand, but let the soft fingertips slide across his palm, either intentionally or unintentionally, and said with a tender smile: "Although Prajna is Female Liu, but she has always longed for the legend of the monarchy ."
"If you can ascend to the throne in the future, you are my female prime minister, and the dragon bed can be divided into half of you, or what is it that you can't bear?" King Yu said, with a hint of teasing in his tone, "I'm afraid you can't see it in your eyes. up, it's unknown."
Qin Banruo smiled lightly, neither annoyed nor intended to continue the conversation, but instead bowed his head and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, please inform Qi Shangshu about the matter of Prince Ji earlier. There are still some affairs in the building. Deal with it, and say goodbye first."
Her detached attitude made Wang Yu's heart tickled. She wanted to be more gentle, but she really cherished this woman. She went.
Soon, Qi Min, the Minister of Punishment, got the news from the envoy from the Prince Yu's Mansion. Originally, I had already discussed with the competent commander how to bribe witnesses, how to give testimony again, and how to change the corpse... In short, all the hands and feet have been done for nine times, but a basin of cold water was poured on the head.
As soon as I heard that there was another eyewitness that was Prince Ji, Qi Min's head suddenly turned into two big ones. Although King Yu meant to let King Ji's tone of voice be explored first, Qi Min knew that it was the same thing if he didn't probe his tone. King Ji's straightforward temperament is well known, and besides, even if he is not straightforward, he will not be guilty of perjuring for a playboy who beat someone to death. Even if Wen Yuanbo never made any request to him, once the emperor asked him, he would definitely tell the truth.
However, since King Yu had told him to visit, it would be bad if he didn't visit, so Qi Min took two days off and planned to go to King Ji's hot spring villa in person.
Although before departure, Qi Min was already prepared for a free visit. But what he never expected was that this result would come so early and so fast.
The reason why the minister of punishment returned without success was not because of how tough King Ji's tone was. To be honest, when Qi Min knew that his trip was in vain, he hadn't seen King Ji at all.
It's not really complicated, it's just a bit of a coincidence.
Tiger Hill is a holy place for hot springs, and there are many villas. King Ji's courtyard is the largest and most comfortable one among them. Anyone who has friendship with King Ji will choose to live in this other courtyard when they come to Huqiu.
For example, Yan Yujin, who had a long-term friendship with King Ji because of his free and easy manners.
The eldest young master of the uncle's mansion who was always happy, the eldest son of Ningguo mansion who was melancholy, and the second son of Ningguo mansion who was a little depressed, the three of them just posted a letter outside the other courtyard begging for a meeting, and Ji wangye immediately greeted them happily.
Although the seniority is different, the age is a lot different, but King Ji, who has only loved romantic love all his life, still retains the dashing energy of his youth, getting along with these juniors is very pleasant, and there is no feeling that there is a gap between them.
There were energetic guests, and one of them was Xiao Yujin, his favorite. King Ji was very happy.
Naturally, at the beginning, it was a glamorous topic of fat and powdery fragrance. Judging the beauties in the capital, King Ji's experience will never be less than that of the pavilion master of Langya. Yan Yujin is also a person who loves fragrance and jade, and he admires Gong Yu of Miaoyinfang the most. As soon as the two started chatting, they suddenly became speculative. They kept talking about Yang Liuxin from Miaoyinfang, and then they talked about the murder of Yang Liuxin by the way.
King Ji then said with a big tongue: "I am accumulating (knowing) Tao, I should be... at that time... vegetable (is)..."
Yan Yujin's eyes widened: "You... you're also here? How... how did you get killed?"
Although King Ji's tongue is a bit big, his mind is still very clear. Not only is he sober, he is also very excited. When asked by Yan Yujin, he immediately vividly describes the cause and effect as if telling a story.
The other two listeners were nothing, but they said that Yujin was a well-connected person and liked to chat. The next day, when he went out to visit other aristocratic mansions in Huqiu, he casually took this piece of information that King Ji had seen firsthand. The bloody case was spread all over the place.
So when Qi Min arrived at Huqiu, almost all the dignitaries who came here for leisure already knew that He Wenxin did kill someone with his own hands, and it was Lord Ji who saw it with his own eyes...
In this situation, the matter of exploring Wang Ji's words was meaningless, and the Minister of Punishment had to sigh inwardly: "Master He, Master He, it's not that I didn't do my best to help you, it's really your son... and it's too unfortunate... "